Seren's vision was fading.
He saw, between blackouts of his sight, his mother entering her Transcendent Form and lunging at the Creature.
His ears were ringing, but if he could hear, he would've heard someone scream.
"It's a Cursed Terror!!"
Darkness.
His eyes opened again, and he saw the Terror engaged in a violent struggle with a ghost.
His arm was in excruciating pain. Tears rolled down his face from the agony. Even as he activated his Dormant Ability and circulated essence through his arm, the pain was unbearable. He heard screaming and explosions in the distance. Or maybe they were nearby, as he could not even hear his own heart hammering against his chest.
He felt sick and dizzy. Energy coursed through the air, as if something had willed reality itself to break. He noticed strange, unsettling, alien-like rifts, tearing through space and time, with strange tentacles emerging to feast on human flesh.
He heard a familiar voice cry out in pain, and blood suddenly splattered against the ground in front of him. Weakly, he mustered all of his strength to look for the source, but when his eyes locked with the gruesome scene, he regretted it.
His mother was impaled on the Terror's crescent staff. Blood was gushing out of the wound at an alarming rate. He saw purpleish-blue streaks appear on her skin.
"Mother..."
Seren said those words, hoping his mother would hear them. She looked at him and whispered something meaningful, but Seren could not hear.
A painful sensation racked his body, and he coughed up blood. He looked at his arm, and to his horror, he saw strange growths spreading through what was left of his hand and into his body.
Seren tried to scream, but he could not. Before he could realise it, he was thrust into his Soul Sea.
Relief. He no longer felt any pain and was able to stand. Seren laughed.
"I'm alive.'
He thought of his mother's death. If she died, then it would be a massacre. Clan Ghost didn't stand a chance.
Tears welled up in his eyes. His mother died.
Before he could continue grieving, his soul burst into pain. Looking up, he saw his soul core shining brightly. But something was different. The seed of corruption that had been in his soul since receiving his flaw, [Cursed from the Grave], was spreading through his Soul Sea. Its vile tendrils infected all of his Memories and his Echo, his Attributes and his Aspect, even causing his soul core to flicker.
He saw his soul core transform from pristine white to a cursed, purplish hue. He realised, with a drop of terror, that his Flaw was coming into effect. He was falling down the path of Corruption. He was turning into a Nightmare Creature. Into the very thing he swore to destroy.
***
He no longer felt pain. He felt hunger. Hunger for blood. He stood up, his legs buckling under an unusual weight. All around him was blood. Blood was everywhere, with ravaged bodies and fire strewn about.
Wait. Hunger, for blood? He was human, and humans don't eat blood
He felt a terror ripple through his body. These were the bodies of his friends. His family. They were all dead.
Seren rushed around, trying to find any bodies he recognised, anyone who survived. But to no avail, as all the bodies were ruined beyond recognition.
A startling crunch caused Seren to whip around. He saw a Nightmare Creature named [Corpse], which appeared as a desiccated human corpse, gnawing on a bone. Seren gazed at the Dormant Beast and prepared to kill it, but it just stared at him with fierce red eyes and went back to feasting on the bodies.
Seren killed it anyway.
Wondering why it did not attack him, he lumbered over to the well and gazed at his reflection.
A monster gazed back.
His left arm was now regrown as bone, and his facial features had sunken into his face. His silver hair was now past his shoulders, and his black eyes were devoid of life. The [Wraith Shroud] was tattered and dirty, but he could not dismiss it.
He had become a Nightmare Creature. Just like his flaw said. Curious, he dove into his soul sea.
Name: Seren
True Name: —
Rank: Awakened
Soul Core: Awakened
Class: Monster
Souls: [1/200]
Memories: [Silver Wind], [Bonemerang]
Echos: [Graverender]
Attributes: [Ghost Walker's Last of Kin], [Deathly Nature], [Wraith Shroud], [Graven Soul], [Soul Reaper]
Aspect: [Ghost of the Past]
Aspect Rank: Unholy
Dormant Ability: [Undead Vitality]
Dormant Ability Description: [Your body has the vitality of the undead. Use the spirits of the dead to strengthen your body and soul to enhance physical ability and recover from damage.]
Souls Invested: [0/50]
Awakened Ability: [Wraith]
Awakened Ability Description: [You have fused with the spirit of Ghost.]
Souls Invested: [0/100]
Spirts Collected: [1/?]
Flaw: [Corruption]
Flaw Description: [Corruption has consumed your soul. Only Fate can set you free.]
***
A few days passed. Seren spent the time learning how to walk, as he had grown a foot, and fight, as his limbs stretched longer. He also investigated what his new Attributes did.
[Ghost Walker's Last of Kin] was the same as [Child of Ghost Walker], but under a new name. This all but confirmed his suspicion. His family was now dead.
[Deathly Nature] seemed to have completely overridden his need for substance and sleep, as he felt no drowsiness, and his hunger was lust and not desperation.
[Wraith Shroud] had now fused with his body and could be dismissed, just with a different command than memories. Its enchanments worked as they did, but [Spirit Guard] was now active with or without the [Wraith Shroud] being summoned or not, and [Shroud of Darkness] required it to be summoned.
[Graven Soul] is the result of [Grave Skull] and [Soul in a Bottle] being fused, and he benefited from permanent death immunity and essence regeneration, with the addition of immortality.
The Spell still considered him a carrier; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to summon the runes or enter his soul sea, even though he was corrupted.
'Must be something to do with my flaw.'
Other pressing matters emerged, such as how he had intelligence as a Monster, and that his Aspect was now Unholy, as well as the removal of the soul shard counter and addition of "souls", which seemed to be able to be invested in his attributes, as well as his memories and echo.
He had a soul already, so he must've attained one by slaying the [Corpse]. He must have been a Beast at the start, but his soul shard counter was full, so maybe the Spell translated them into souls.
His echo was the same as ever, and he still listened to his commands. He also decided, one day, he should name it. He would have to think of one.
***
As Seren finished training himself to be used to his new body, he heard a couple of voices behind him.
"Wow, what the hell happened here?"
"We'll have to investigate later. First, set up camp, and clear the area of any Nightmare Creatures."
"Yes, ma'am."
Seren recognised the second person. It was Awakened Seishan, one of the Queen's adopted daughters. She had recently awakened from the Forgotten Shore, but was incredibly dangerous. If she were here, then the Queen must have been concerned enough about this situation to send one of her daughters to investigate, albeit her weakest one. His mother had a report to make to the Queen a month after his birthday, so it must've passed, and when she did not make it, she sent her daughter to investigate.
'They'll kill me if they see me.'
Seren scrambled to put out his fire he had made to stay warm and hid his existence here, but an Awakened of Song noticed him.
"Here's one!"
Seren was not confident to take on these soldiers, especially if there was a Master among them, even though Seishan could probably kill him easily enough.
As the Awakened charged, Seren dashed away and started to flee into the night. Using his Awakened Ability, which had evolved to let him turn invisible and incorporeal, he vanished into the night.
The Awakened stood, confused. Why would a Nightmare Creature flee? If it was smart enough to build a campfire and cover its tracks, then it must be at least a Fallen Demon, so why run?
Shrugging, he went back to the beginning of their camp.
***
Seren fled into the Graveyard without looking back.